Stargate: Return of the Ancients, Season 1, Ep 13
by Aer-ki Jyr
Summary: Episode, "Vengeance"
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure that goes straight to Dakara?" Sheppard asked as the gate in Atlantis's control room activated after the standard kawoosh.

Elizabeth smiled. "I'm sure. Stevenson modified the control crystal to allow any outgoing connection between galaxies…but you're still going to have to come back through the gate center."

"Right," Sheppard said, glancing at Ford. "You ready?"

"I was waiting on you," he said deadpan.

Sheppard smirked and looked back up off the gateroom floor to where Elizabeth was standing on the landing. "Be back in a few days."

"I hope so," Elizabeth snided. "I wouldn't want to have to bring Atlantis all the way to Earth to bust your ass out of jail."

Sheppard did a double take. "Be careful…I got it," he said, nudging Ford through the event horizon. He gave Elizabeth a small wave then followed him through.

* * *

They stepped out of the opposite gate looking into the barrels of half a dozen staff weapons and two fixed turrets.

"_As you were_," one of the guards said. The rest of the Jaffa lowered their weapons.

The Jaffa that spoke walked out from behind the gate guards and stood before Sheppard and Ford. "I bid you greetings on behalf of Lord Bra'tac."

Sheppard nodded. "Hello to you too."

"Hey," Ford quipped, "no tattoo?"

To his surprise the Jaffa smiled. "None that you may see, but it is there."

"Invisible tattoo..." Ford asked, "what's the point?"

"Excuse my friend," Sheppard said, jumping in, "he doesn't get out much. Now, I assume Bra'tac left word that we were coming?"

"He did, indeed," the Jaffa said. "He awaits you at the shipyard."

"Shipyard…sweet," Sheppard said, raising a hand. "Lead on."

The Jaffa nodded and swept his cape around in a long turn. "Follow me."

When he wasn't looking Sheppard elbowed Ford in the ribs. His friend gave him a 'what's that for' look then let it go. Both of them dropped into step behind the quickly moving Jaffa as he led them along a dirt path through the rubble-strewn landscape. After half a kilometer they came to a set of rings seemingly out of place from any nearby habitation.

The threesome stepped inside and the Jaffa pressed a sequence of buttons on his forearm gauntlet. The rings flashed up around them as usual, then deposited them in the middle of what looked like an Ancient city.

Small, but Ancient-style structures surrounded the three of them as the Jaffa continued his rapid pace away from the rings and along the smooth, almost polished meter-wide tiles that lined the city's streets. Ford and Sheppard had to jog a few steps to catch up.

"Wow," Ford said under his breath. "Kind of reminds me of Atlantis."

Sheppard cringed. "Not quite the Lantean architecture, but close."

"I thought the Alterra built Atlantis," Ford pointed out.

"True, but I imagine the Lanteans did at least some redecorating."

"Makes sense," Ford said as they passed a small contingent of guards being led by another tattoo-less Jaffa. "How long did you say this has been here?"

"Less than two years," Sheppard said, thoroughly impressed. "Ancients build fast."

As they turned a corner Ford's eyes went wide. "No kidding."

"You said it," Sheppard echoed as the buildings ended a few rows down and a vast plateau stretched out before them with six large, half constructed ships cradled in a mess of support struts and what looked like cranes…only they had glowy patches on them.

"Shipyard I guess," Ford said as the Jaffa turned around when he heard their footsteps stop.

"It is an impressive sight, even for those of us that see it every day," he said in agreement with their awe. "None the less, Lord Bra'tac must not be kept waiting. Come."

Sheppard and Ford kept up with him this time as he guided them down onto the plateau. As they came closer, they realized there were several smaller ships under construction alongside the larger ones…and off to the side was a promenade that two complete vessels were parked on.

"Are those our ride?" Ford asked.

The Jaffa nodded. "The first of the new Alket design. Only these two are complete, but as you can see many more are being built."

"And the big ones?" Sheppard asked.

"H'tel," the Jaffa answered. "Similar to the Goa'uld motherships of past days…only far more powerful."

"I'll bet," Sheppard said as they stopped outside a small spire on the edge of the promenade.

"Colonel Sheppard," a voice called out from the shadows of the spire. "Good. You have arrived," Bra'tac said, striding out to meet them.

"That we have," Sheppard said, taken slightly aback by the bold red tunic that the man wore. It stood out in stark contrast to his surroundings and the dress of the other Jaffa. Sheppard also noted the man's forearm jewelry…which was eerily similar to the style Stevenson wore.

"From what I was told, we are retrieving some of Atlantis's former crew, yes?"

Sheppard nodded. "A few more than planned actually. Dr. Weir has been given command of Atlantis and she added a few names to the list."

"How many?" Bra'tac demanded.

"Seven total," Sheppard told him.

Bra'tac nodded. "Do you know the location of said individuals on the planet?"

"Just one, but he should be able to help us find the rest."

"Very well," Bra'tac said, satisfied. "If nothing else, it should be an adequate test of the Alket's stealth abilities."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "You haven't tested it yet?"

"Through trials, yes. But this will be the first mission for the prototype."

"Sounds fun," Ford chimed in.

Sheppard glanced at him. "We're ready when you are."

"The crew is already aboard," Bra'tac said, walking forward. "We shall leave immediately."

"Sorry if we kept you waiting," Sheppard said, trying to keep in step with the energetic man.

"You did not," he said forcefully. "There is still much work to be done on the H'tels. Time was not wasted."

"Good to hear," Sheppard offered, struggling slightly to keep up with Bra'tac's pace.

"I hear you recently defeated three ships of the Tau'ri?" the Alterra asked.

Sheppard nodded slowly. "More Stevenson than us, but yeah."

"The _Tria_ is a mighty warship," Bra'tac agreed. "I studied the design with great interest before designing the H'tel. It gives me great comfort to know that a single vessel can outmatch three of the upgraded Human vessels."

"A single Ancient ship?" Ford asked. "Or a single…H'tel?"

Bra'tac smiled. "Both," he said as they finally arrived on the deep paving stones of the promenade. When they did, a small gantry was extended from the side of the nearest Alket.

"Come," Bra'tac said, almost running up the narrow ramp.

Sheppard and Ford followed him inside, albeit a few seconds later.

* * *

"Time to arrival?" Nella asked.

Her fellow Aschen in the control chamber lightly tapped three buttons on the workstation before him.

"The bio-pods will arrive in 18 hours, 54 minutes," the second of the two mission commanders stated lethargically. "The command ship and elementals will arrive 23 and 27 minutes later, respectively."

"Any vessels within detection range?" Neela asked.

"None," Jarro reported. "It seems strange for the Earthers not to have at least some detection net set up around their world."

"By all recollection, they are a primitive race," Neela commented.

"A race which succeeded in destroying an entire star system," Jarro argued.

"A heavy price to pay, for sure," Neela countered calmly, "but the knowledge of the gate system unlocked serves as recompense."

"The two million Aschen who died would argue otherwise."

"As would I," Neela agreed, "but the past cannot be undone. Only the future preserved."

"But it can be avenged…"

Neela turned on him. "You have doubts?"

"I believe we are acting in haste. Sufficient thought has not been given to the matter."

"Normally I would agree, but these Earthers have escaped our grasp once. We cannot let them persist. Their continued existence would only serve to poison others."

"Two years is not sufficient time," Jarro continued to argue. "From all indications the Earthers have defeated a powerful enemy in the interim. They could not have done so with the technology they possessed at our last encounter. I fear we may be underestimating them."

"We shall soon see," Neela said, leaving the control chamber.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, Honey, I don't really see anything."

McKay rolled his head back then turned to Jennifer. "For the millionth time will you please stop calling me that. It's embarrassing."

"Why?" she asked playfully. "I like calling you that."

"Well, for starters, there's no rational connection between the word 'honey,' me, and the bee juice."

Jennifer put her nose up against Rodney's cheek. "You're as sweet as honey…Honey."

"No, I'm not," he complained loudly, then lowered his voice. There were other people in the park.

"I'll admit, you are a bit sour at times…but you still have your _golden_ moments."

"No," Rodney said, shaking his head sarcastically. "Now you, you're worthy of the name Honey. You even resemble the actress, can't think of her name."

"Actress?" Jennifer asked, confused.

"The Bond chick, in the first of the series. The good ones with Sean Connery, not the crappy knockoffs nowadays."

Jennifer eyed him. "So I'm a 'Bond girl' huh?"

"Every bit," Rodney mocked, squeezing her hand tighter. "Now. It should be around here somewhere."

"I don't see a bent tree," Jennifer remarked, once again serious.

"Maybe it's on the other side of the creek," Rodney suggested. "There's a bridge over there."

"Okay," Jennifer said, walking hand in hand with him while holding the strap of her backpack across her shoulder with the other.

"Ah, see. I told you," Rodney said, pointing to a particular tree. "He said he'd meet us here."

"Must be early," Jennifer said, stopping on the bridge.

"No, no, we had a deal," Rodney said, letting go of her hand and continuing to walk forward. He looked right and left, behind some bushes, and then across a low wall. "He said 2:17 pm."

Jennifer frowned. "Why 2:17 and not 2:20…or 2:30?"

"That way," Sheppard said, standing up from his sitting position on the opposite side of the tree, "you get here at 2:17 exactly to find out why."

"John," Jennifer said, smiling. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise," he said, shaking hands with McKay. "You both coming?"

"Yeah," Rodney said, "I finally talked her into it."

"Really? I didn't think techno-babble worked on her," he said sarcastically.

"Actually, he was very convincing," Jennifer said, once again taking Rodney's hand. "And we made something of a deal out of it."

"What kind of a deal?" Sheppard asked, looking at McKay.

Rodney smiled and held up his other hand…with a ring on it.

Sheppard's jaw dropped. "How did a geek like you ever get a blonde like her to marry you?"

"Hey," McKay protested. "I do have feelings, you know?"

Jennifer squeezed his hand again. "He's just teasing. We all know you do…Honey."

McKay squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Is everything set?"

Sheppard nodded. "Just one small snag."

"What kind of snag?" McKay asked.

"Elizabeth has been given command of Atlantis and she wanted me to track down a few other people while I'm here..."

"And you need me to help you find them," Rodney guessed.

Sheppard shrugged. "You're the computer geek."

"Enough with the 'geek' thing already. Who's on your list?"

Sheppard smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to McKay. He read through the six names and visibly slumped.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Sheppard's smile widened. "Nope. That's who she wants."

"Ah, alright. Let me get to a computer with network access and I'll track'em down. I hope you have a way of getting to them?"

"Not a problem. Where do you need to go for the computer?"

"Area 51. It's about an hour drive by car…then figure twenty minutes to get through security, another five to find the whereabouts of the…_individuals_ on your list, then another fifteen on the way out."

"I think we can do better than that," Sheppard said, glancing around. He pulled his sleeve up and touched a button on the wristband he wore. "Three to beam up."

McKay frowned. "Since when do Ancient ships have beaming…"

Three white flashes later and they were in orbit.

* * *

"You're serious?" Zelenka said after Sheppard explained his mission.

"Completely," John said, leaning against the door of Zelenka's university office.

"Well, I can't just abandon my work on the drop of a hat. I have ongoing research projects…"

"None that compare to Atlantis," Sheppard interrupted. "That was your research project until you got yanked off it by the I.O.A….just think of it as resuming your work."

Zelenka smiled appreciatively. "I think it's a bit more complex than that, Colonel…or, whatever your rank is now."

"Colonel's fine."

"Well, Colonel, what you're asking me to do is…frankly, illegal."

Sheppard considered that. "Maybe here on Earth…but that's not really saying much in the grand scheme of things, is it?"

"True, the Ancients did build Atlantis," Zelenka offered, "and from a certain point of view their retaking it isn't illegal so much as reclaiming their property…especially considering this isn't the first time it's happened…but the fact remains that I'd never be able to return to Earth as anything other than a criminal. While that might not mean anything in Pegasus, I still consider myself to be an Earthling. I don't want to be a rebel."

"How important can a planet be when they don't even have a proper name for themselves," Sheppard argued. "Earthling is so…1920s"

"You may have a point there, and as much as I appreciate Dr. Weir's confidence in me…not to overlook that fact that she's still alive and I would much like to see her again…I'm sorry, I can't accept your offer."

Sheppard nodded, a bit sarcastically. "I understand. Lorne said the same thing. I appreciate your honesty…and I want you to know, that given your loyalties to Earth, this is actually for your benefit and nothing personal on my part."

Zelenka frowned. "What is?"

"This," Sheppard said, pulling out an Ancient stunner. He shot Zelenka at point blank range and caught his body before it could fall to the floor.

"Three down, three to go."

* * *

Laura was sitting in her apartment, sucking down a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream while watching 'Dancing with the Stars' when her door buzzer rang.

"Who is it?" she asked, setting down her snack and walking to the door.

She looked through the peep hole and did a double take. _No way_.

She pulled open the door to the sight of Sheppard standing outside. "Hello, Lieutenant."

"Colonel Sheppard? What are you doing here? I heard you'd been sent to prison."

"Almost," he said, glancing around. "Mind if I come in."

"Sure," Cadman said warily. "You're not in some kind of trouble. Are you?"

"Only if I'm caught," Sheppard joked. "No, actually I'm here to offer you a ticket back to Atlantis."

"Come again?"

"How about you start with what you know," Sheppard said, sitting down on her couch.

"I.O.A. pulled the plug on the expedition," she said, plopping down next to him. "You went merc and they arrested you."

"That it?"

"Yeah."

"Long story short…that head sucker thing O'Neill ran into, twice, worked on a guy named Ryan Stevenson and turned him into an Ancient."

Cadman shook her head. "Don't know him. Wait a minute, you said it turned him into an Ancient?"

"Oh yeah, and he's been busy ever since."

"Doing what?"

"Rebuilding their civilization."

Cadman blinked twice. "Is this a joke?"

"Nope."

"An Ancient…a real, live, Ancient is rebuilding their civilization."

Sheppard nodded slowly. "We're based out of Atlantis, but he already has ops going on in several galaxies. Point is, we need good people to join us. Dr. Weir recommended you and…"

"I thought Weir was dead?" she interrupted.

"Well, she did have something of a rough spell, being turned into a replicator and all, but she's back in a human body now. Another long story."

"I'll bet," Cadman said, taking it all in. "And she wants me?"

"You were on her short list, yes."

"What about this Ancient…isn't he in charge."

Sheppard cringed. "Technically they're both Ancients…Stevenson transformed Weir into a Lantean not too long ago."

Cadman looked at him coyly. "This just keeps getting better."

"I know it's confusing, but it all makes sense…eventually."

"Hypothetically speaking, if I said yes, how would we get there. I doubt they're going to let you use the stargate, seeing as how you're a criminal and all."

"We don't need the gate. We have a ship in orbit."

"A ship?"

"A cloaked ship…with beaming technology. Say the word and we can be up there in ten seconds."

"Well, looks like you've got all your bases covered."

"What do you say, Lieutenant? Care to blow this joint?"

Cadman smiled. "Actually it's Major now…and what the hell, I've been bored ever since I got back."

Sheppard smiled widely. "I had a feeling…"

"What…that I'm as much of an adrenaline junky as you?"

"Something like that."

"Should I pack first?"

"If you have any sentimental items sure, but Atlantis can supply you with whatever else you need when you get there."

"Cool," she said, grabbing a book off her kitchen counter. "I'm good."

Sheppard smiled/laughed. "Nice to have a kindred spirit," he said, keying his comm again. "Two this time," he said, quickly followed by a blur of white.

Cadman looked around the inside of the Alket, caught a glance of McKay and gave him a small wave.

"Oh goodie," Rodney said under his breath as he went back to work on the laptop he'd brought with him.

* * *

"You did what?" Carson complained.

"Don't look surprised."

"I know I shouldn't be," Dr. Beckett said, leaning back in his desk chair. "But you'll forgive me if I have a hard time imagining Earth as the enemy."

"I don't like it much either," Sheppard said, sitting in a chair across Beckett's desk, "but the fact is, Earth is going darkside."

"Are you sure there isn't some mistake?" Carson pleaded. "Brainwashing and killing people while attempting to gain access to the knowledge of the Ancients is…"

"Evil," Sheppard offered.

"Aye," Carson said reluctantly. "Hasn't General O'Neill done anything about it?"

Sheppard shrugged. "Don't know if he even knows, but the fact is they were doing it until we stopped them, and planned on using me if they ever caught me."

"To be perfectly honest, I have heard some…unsavory…rumors coming out of the SGC, but I didn't give them serious thought. It's a proven fact that people have a knack for distorting the truth through gossip. I didn't imagine the rumors would have _understated_ the situation."

"So, bottom line," Sheppard said, leaning forward, "can you live with the knowledge that you're helping the bad guys?"

"Actually, most of my work is in this private practice, Colonel. Only on occasion do I do any work for the SGC."

"You didn't answer my question, Carson."

Dr. Beckett sighed. "If I did, I wouldn't be much of a doctor then, would I?"

"Then you'll come?"

"Aye. It'll be good to see the others again, especially Elizabeth. I just need to wrap up a few things here."

"How long?" Sheppard asked.

"Oh, it shouldn't take too long. Two weeks, tops."

Sheppard laughed. "I can give you two _hours_…"

Carson frowned. "What's the rush?"

"The longer we're here the greater the risk of us being found out…especially when key personnel start disappearing."

"Well, I suppose I could leave a list of instructions for Dr. Herreman. That would cover most of my patients…"

"Good. Start typing," Sheppard said, standing up.

"Hold on a minute. It's not that simple. I'm due in surgery in five hours. I can't skip that."

Sheppard chewed his lip. "Tell you what. I'll get the other people on my list then come back for you after the surgery tonight."

Carson nodded. "That could work. Where do you want to meet?"

"Right here."

"Alright. It'll be a bit of a juggling act, but I think I can pull it off."

"Be back around…eight tonight?" Sheppard asked.

Carson nodded. "That'll work."

Sheppard smiled. "Good to have you back."

Carson returned the smile. "Aye. Now get going. I have a lot of work to do before tonight."

Sheppard turned to walk out, then hesitated. "You're not going to call the SGC on me, are you?"

"Perish the thought," Carson joked.

"Just checking," Sheppard said, almost convinced. He'd be careful, just in case. "See you at eight."

* * *

"We have a problem," McKay told Sheppard once he was back onboard the Alket.

"What?"

"Novak is currently serving aboard the _Phoenix_."

"I thought you said she was at the SGC?"

"Yeah, well I did some double checking with the data link Bra'tac set up and she's been assigned to the ship for a four day systems diagnostic."

"Great," Sheppard complained. "Don't suppose the ship's sensors can detect hiccups?"

"Hiccups?" Rodney asked.

"Novak has persistent hiccups," Sheppard explained.

Rodney snapped his fingers three times. "You've just given me an idea."

* * *

There were three of them in the engine room, pulling a manual diagnostic of the hyperspace engines while running multiple simulations on the ship's computer. They were trying to identify any flaws that might have allowed the Lantean ship to disable the hyperdrives on all three of their 304s. According to the mission reports, the hyperdrives had not only been disengaged while in flight, but they had been damaged in the process.

If the rebels in Atlantis had this capability, then it was likely that another confrontation would yield similar results…hence this recent project to identify the means by which they had disabled the engines and create a defense against it.

Novak sat at her terminal running through lines of diagnostic code when the officer next to her disappeared in a flash of light.

"What was that?" Major Brigson asked.

"I don't know," Novak said, frowning. Suddenly the Captain reappeared…then the Major vanished.

"What the hell?" she swore.

A moment later the Major reappeared, then Novak disappeared in a wash of white light and suddenly found herself in another room.

"Finally," Sheppard said.

"Uh…what just happened?" Novak asked, looking around.

"We're kidnapping you," Sheppard explained pithily.

Novak's eyes went wide. "Kidnapping me?"

"Relax," Sheppard assured her. "Worst case scenario you end up with a two week vacation to the Pegasus galaxy."

"And the best case scenario?" Novak asked cautiously.

Sheppard smiled. "One hell of a promotion."

"I don't understand," Novak said, shaking her head.

Sheppard waved her off. "Just go along for the ride. You'll catch on." He turned to the Jaffa at the beaming controls. "Next."

* * *

Five hours later, after 'retrieving' Simpson from the UK, Sheppard beamed back onboard with Carson and _three_ suitcases.

"For crying out loud, Carson," McKay complained, "what did you pack?"

"Just a few essentials," Carson said. "Nice to see you too, by the way."

"Hello, Carson," Jennifer said from Rodney's side.

"Dr. Keller. I didn't expect to see you here?"

"Actually," Jennifer said, smiling, "it's Dr. McKay now."

"Really," Carson said, smiling. "Congratulations you two."

"Thanks," Rodney said amicably.

"Don't get too excited," Sheppard interrupted. "Once we reach Pegasus your marriage is null and void."

"What?" Jennifer asked, horrified.

"What are you talking about?" Rodney echoed.

Sheppard stepped forward and clapped Rodney on the shoulder. "The Ancients don't recognize marriage."

Rodney's eyes went wide. "They don't?"

"So," Sheppard continued. "Enjoy your few remaining hours of wedded bliss," he said, winking at Keller before walking off.

Both Rodney and Jennifer exchanged glances, stunned.

"Was he serious?" she asked.

"Beats me," Rodney said. "Just my luck…I finally get the perfect girl, future is looking good, then the other shoe drops."

Jennifer grabbed his arm tightly. "You're not losing me."

"Who am I kidding," Rodney whined. "Marriage was my only hope of keeping you. Eventually I'll annoy you to frustration and you'll move on to someone less irritating."

Jennifer frowned. "So, you were planning on keeping me prisoner?"

"Pretty much," Rodney admitted.

She smiled seductively. "Kinky."

Rodney had to laugh at that. "Stop. My side. You're killing me."

"Marriage or not," Jennifer said seriously. "We'll beat the odds."

"You think?"

"Definitely," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hmmm," Rodney said, thinking. "Maybe Sheppard was joking. He does that you know."

"Doesn't matter," Jennifer said, kissing him again.

"Doesn't matter," Rodney echoed.

* * *

"Ok," Sheppard said, walking onto the bridge of the Alket. "Everyone's aboard. We can leave now."

Bra'tac nodded. "_Helm, set course for Dakara_."

The Jaffa at the controls frowned as his console began to light up. "_My Lord, sensors have detected a ship entering the system_."

Bra'tac frowned. All three of the Tau'ri ships were currently in orbit.

"_Show me_," he ordered.

A holographic map of Earth, Luna, and their orbital paths materialized in front of Bra'tac's command chair. Outside of Luna's orbit a new contact had emerged…one of unfamiliar design.

"What's that?" Sheppard asked.

Bra'tac slowly shook his head. "I know not," he said as multiple contacts splintered off from the ship and headed rapidly toward the planet.

"_Sensor focus_," Bra'tac ordered quickly.

The Jaffa knew what he meant and did an in-depth sensor scan on one of the objects. A small obloid shape materialized in a fuzzy hologram.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sheppard asked.

"We would have to drop our cloak for better results," the Jaffa answered him in English.

"Do so," Bra'tac said, standing. "And move us on an intercept course with those objects."

"What?" Sheppard asked seriously.

"A hunch," the Alterra answered as the fuzzy image clarified.

"My Lord, sensors indicate…"

"…biological weapons," Bra'tac finished, reading the Ancient script attached to the hologram. "Full speed. We must intercept those weapons before they reach the planet's atmosphere."

Sheppard frowned. "Are Earth's ships moving?"

"No," the Jaffa answered as he accelerated the Alket on a new heading.

"Open communications with the Tau'ri ships," Bra'tac ordered.

The Jaffa touched a few controls then nodded.

"Vessels of the Tau'ri," Bra'tac said quickly, but formally. "A number of biological weapons approach your planet. You must destroy them…now!"


	3. Chapter 3

"The weapons are diverging," the Jaffa at the helm controls noted, unsure which to pursue.

"There," Bra'tac declared, pointing at the farthest of them. "Move us to intercept this one. We will then circle around and target these," he said, pointing at a cluster of four others.

The Jaffa nodded his understanding and realigned their trajectory.

"Power all weapons," Bra'tac ordered.

Another Jaffa who had been sitting silently off to the side stepped forward and touched a small symbol on a pedestal in the center of the bridge, directly in front of Bra'tac's command chair.

A targeting station rose from within the floor and the Jaffa took position behind it, alongside the pilot. Meanwhile Bra'tac used his chair controls to manipulate the hologram before him so he could better appraise the situation. The nearest of the Tau'ri ships was slowly moving to intercept range, but the other had yet to move.

Bra'tac utilized the mental interface built into the chair and had the ship's computer extrapolate the weapons' targets…apparently they had been designed to track towards land, for their trajectories had them all missing the planet's massive oceans and tracking directly for the seven continents.

* * *

The _Sun Tzu_ decelerated and held its ground against the first of the projectiles…one that was tracking directly towards Southeast Asia. A hail of rail gun fire blossomed from the 304 at extreme range and continued as the yellow projectiles missed badly for nearly thirty seconds before the bio weapon closed within two and a half kilometers. The heavy rounds shattered the central casing, spilling the apparently liquid weapon into the cold of space.

It froze instantly in a malformed glob…until another metallic round shattered the deadly ice into a multitude of fragments along with shards of the weapon's casing. As soon as it was destroyed, the _Sun Tzu_ accelerated at maximum thrust to intercept the path of the next closest projectile, but it already had a significant lead on the Chinese ship.

* * *

Meanwhile the _Kerensky_ opted for a head first charge toward a cluster of three of the weapons. The Russian ship didn't opt to wait in low orbit and give the weapons free distance towards Earth. It opened up with its beam weapons at range and succeeded in destroying one of the weapons after two dozen attempts.

The other two weapons closed fast, and the _Kerensky_ added its rail guns to the beam weapons, as well as deploying a pair of 302s that fell back from the rapidly accelerating ship, then dropped even closer towards the planet as a second line of defense.

The two remaining bio weapons altered course and split widely, obviously some type of preprogrammed defensive maneuver, and the Russians had to make a quick choice which to follow…and failed to do so. By the time they chose a weapon to track they were too far behind and had to settle for a long loop that brought them around on a pursuit course towards Earth…with their excess weapons fire headed down to the planet's surface.

A small missile impacted the side of one of the weapons as they neared the atmosphere, courtesy of the 302s, and knocked it off course. The tiny fighters pounced on it with more missile and their pathetic energy weapons, but they did finally succeed in breaking the case that held the weapon and destroyed its guidance systems. With any luck the now ballistic debris would burn up upon reentry…which would begin in twenty seconds.

The third projectile was out of range of the Russians' weapons though many rail gun rounds flashed by, their targeting system useless at this range. The bio weapon dropped into the upper atmosphere and a reentry shield activated in front of the rectangular device. It was powered by the heat of friction, and grew stronger the deeper it delved into the thick atmosphere on its way down towards Greenland.

* * *

The _Phoenix_ chose a similar attack profile to the Russians…they headed out at full speed to intercept the weapons before they could get too close to Earth…but the delay they'd suffered in recognizing the weapons for what they were put them in position to destroy only a handful of them. Fortunately the unidentified ship that had sent them the warning had got a good jump on weapons and had intercepted them further out where they had been clustered closer together.

Five projectiles approached the Americas...the _Phoenix_ targeted two that were still relatively close together as it wheeled around and moved against their future position laterally rather than wait for them to pass by and force them to play catch up later. Rail guns fired like an oversized version of a chain gun across the path of the weapons as the ship also launched a dozen missiles, hoping that they would be able to overtake the speed of the bio weapons…they could not, and lagged behind uselessly as the pair of projectiles sped past at amazing speed.

The _Phoenix_ dropped in behind them and fought to catch up. The weapons appeared to be ballistic and not accelerating, so the American ship still had a chance. It reached out with its beam weapons towards the leftmost of the two, firing frantically to hit the tiny dot on their forward screens. They fired round after round, with the missed lances penetrating the upper atmosphere and landing who knows where…if the beam cohesion held. Hopefully it wouldn't.

A luck strike took out the targeted weapon and the _Phoenix_ angled towards the second as it quickly gained ground…but the weapon slipped into the upper atmosphere and began its fiery descent towards Canada.

As if angered to the point of madness, the 304 slammed into the atmosphere, punching such a wide hole into the gaseous layers around the planet that for a moment it appeared as if there was a second sun in the sky overhead. The fireball was so intense preceding the forward shields of the ship that none of her weapons could fire forward…but fortunately they didn't have to. The ship/meteor passed within 300 meters of the bio weapon halfway through its descent and vaporized it in the inferno mushrooming around the _Phoenix_.

The American craft then redirected its course through a painful upward loop, bottoming out less than 10 kilometers above Hudson Bay before pulling back spaceward with negligible shield strength remaining. It quickly confirmed an additional kill by their 302s, launched at the outset of the engagement, but the other two weapons had made it to the surface.

* * *

"Where did they hit?" Sheppard asked as he stood beside Bra'tac. They'd managed to destroy twenty seven of the weapons…but four had slipped past Earth's lethargic defenders. Had they been on the ball they could have stopped them all.

A hologram of the planet appeared with four points of impact marked… Antarctica…Greenland…Mexico…Brazil.

"I'd better get Beckett up here," Sheppard said, running off the bridge.

"_Where is the launching device?_" Bra'tac asked snappily. He did not appreciate failure.

A sensor image of the now empty launcher drifted outside of Luna's orbit with no signs of activity.

"_Take us there_," Bra'tac said, once again sitting down. "_Perhaps it will give us a clue as to the identity of the attackers_."

"_Yes, my Lord_," the pilot said softly. He too realized the price of failure. The Tau'ri homeworld was now contaminated. With what they didn't know, but they all knew the symbiot-less humans would have little defense against a biological weapon.

* * *

"What the hell is going on up there?" Rodney demanded as Sheppard ran into view. "That sounded like weapons fire."

"It was," Sheppard said, settling down. "Carson, we need your help…you too, Jennifer."

"What is it?" Beckett asked.

"Earth was just attacked with dozens of bio weapons…four got through our defenses."

"Dear god," Carson said under his breath as he walked toward Sheppard and the door that led to the bridge.

"Who was it?" Rodney said, jogging to catch up with them. Jennifer lagged behind him a step, followed by a silent Ford. Novak stayed behind with the unconscious personnel, hiccups evident.

"They didn't exactly leave a calling card, Rodney," Sheppard said, irritated. "This ship…thing just dropped out of hyperspace and launched missiles at the planet."

"What are we going to do?" Rodney asked panickly.

Sheppard just shook his head and hurried after Carson.

* * *

Bra'tac stared at the inert bio launcher drifting lazily 100 meters ahead of the Alket. The technology was unfamiliar to him and there seemed to be no bridge or control facility on the craft to board. It was merely a hyperdrive-equipped weapons platform.

"You still say it is unfamiliar to you?" Bra'tac asked Sheppard and the other humans with him.

"You've already asked me that twice," Sheppard protested. "What makes you think I'll change my mind?"

"Because," Bra'tac said as he stood up almost within the hologram of Luna, "whoever they are, they are an enemy of the Tau'ri. It reasons that you must have come into contact with them somewhere."

"He's right," Ford interrupted. "Nobody comes all this way to kill a planet full of strangers. They must have some beef with us. Think."

Sheppard threw up his hands in disgust. "Rodney?"

"Why do I always get to be answer man?" he said, getting glares in response. "Ok, let's start with the obvious. The Goa'uld."

Bra'tac shook his head. "This weapon is not of Goa'uld design…nor is it of the Jaffa."

"Ok, scratch the most obvious two," Rodney said, thinking. "Is it some form of Ancient tech?"

"No," Bra'tac said firmly.

Rodney nodded. "Ok…Ori?"

"I thought we were friends now?" Jennifer interrupted.

"My Lord, a vessel of the Tau'ri approaches…it hails us."

"Allow them communication," Bra'tac said, turning to a wall display on his left. A flat hologram appeared an inch off the wall.

"Unidentified vessel," Colonel Ronson's image demanded, "please state your purpose here and any information you have concerning this attack."

"I am Bra'tac of the Alterra, first System Lord of the Jaffa. We came here on private business with individuals from your planet. Our presence here is coincidental with this attack. We know nothing of it, save for that which both of us saw."

"Your mission here aside," Ronson continued, "you have our thanks. Had you not been here we would have been caught unawares."

"Four weapons penetrated our combined defenses," Bra'tac said stiffly. "Had you moved more quickly, they all could have been intercepted."

Ronson's chin came up slightly. "Your warning occurred before our sensors detected the weapons. We could not have moved faster than we did. As it is, I do not know how you knew before we did."

Bra'tac nodded his head in reluctant understanding. "This vessel has been constructed of Ancient technology, including the craft's sensors…but still, we know nothing of this weapon's origin. Is the design familiar to you?"

Ronson nodded. "We've got our people mulling over the sensor data. Right now we don't have a lead on where it came from, but I'm confident we'll come up with something."

"Very well," Bra'tac said, unconvinced. "What of the devices that struck your planet."

Ronson's jaw flexed. "We don't know anything yet, but any assistance the Jaffa could provide would be welcomed."

"A sample of the weapon would be useful."

"You're referring to the pathogen itself?"

"Yes," Bra'tac confirmed as his pilot stirred again. "_What is it_?" he asked, turning away from Colonel Ronson's image.

"_A ship has appeared on the extreme edge of the star system…beyond the orbit of 17__th__ planet_."

"Stand by," Bra'tac said to Ronson as he adjusted the hologram. A small sensor image enlarged to show a large vessel, half again the size of a 304. It, like the bio launcher, was adorned with smooth blue/white aesthetics.

* * *

The base alarm sounded in the middle of breakfast in the commissary for SG-1…followed quickly by Landry's voice over the base-wide intercom. "Colonel Carter, report to the gateroom ASAP. We have a situation."

Sam frowned. "I wonder what's going on," she said, getting up from her tray.

"One way to find out," Mitchell said, jumping out of his seat a step ahead of her. The rest of SG-1 followed on their heels.

* * *

"What's going on, sir?" Sam asked as she ran up the steps into the control room.

"Earth is under attack," Landry stated calmly, pointing at the numerous displays around the control room. Most of them showed relayed images of the bio weapons, the launcher, and the ship sitting on the edge of the system. "They snuck four of these bio weapons past our defenses. Our 304s and a Jaffa vessel destroyed the rest…then this beastie showed up."

"Who are they?" Mitchell asked.

"We don't know," Landry said, looking at the static images and then Carter. "By any chance are these things Pegasus related?"

Sam looked quizzically at the images, then a thought struck her. She turned to Teal'c and found a similar expression on his face…one of grave concern. He nodded once.

"No, sir," Sam answered as a chill ran through her bones, "but we have encountered them before. They call themselves the Aschen."

* * *

"My Lord, another vessel has dropped out of hyperspace," the pilot announced, displaying a visual of a large block less than 1,000 kilometers away. "It is…breaking apart."

Bra'tac glanced between the visual at the front of the bridge and the tactical display before him. The 'block' was pulling itself apart into flat segments…some 180 total. Each piece was showing shields, engines, and a single weapon mount.

"Colonel," Bra'tac said, glancing to his left. "I suggest you prepare for battle."

"Can we count on your support?" Ronson asked.

"You can."

"Much appreciated," the Colonel said before breaking communications.

"What are they?" Sheppard asked.

"Fighters?" Ford asked.

Bra'tac shook his head. "No, they are too large…and there are no lifeform readings."

"Well whatever they are," Rodney interrupted, "they're coming right for us!"

"Move us away from the Tau'ri," Bra'tac ordered. "Lateral acceleration, then sweep back across their path. Use our speed against them."

The view of the approaching 'slices' disappeared as the Jaffa wheeled the Alket to starboard and accelerated at full thrust.


	4. Chapter 4

"The elementals have engaged the enemy," Jarro reported needlessly. The hologram showed the battle in great detail.

A blue lance lept out from one of the Earth vessels, impacted the flat side of one of the elementals…and utterly destroyed it.

Nella blinked in surprise. "Their weaponry is impressive," she said as more of the block-like elementals swarmed around the four alien ships. Most were moving too fast to target accurately, but the Aschen commander saw two more winged by the blue plasma and subsequently explode.

"As are their shields," Jarro added, studying the telemetry the elementals were relaying back to their command ship. "Their shield matrix is quite complex, far more so that whatever they have powering it."

"Pull back," Nella ordered.

Jarro typed a quick series of commands into his console and the elementals responded immediately, breaking free of the engagement and fleeing Earth orbit towards a rendezvous position near to the second planet's orbital zone.

"What have you got?" Nella asked.

"The computer estimates that five elementals are necessary to defend against their primary weapons…two for their lesser."

"Maneuverability?"

"We will retain the advantage over their three larger ships, but we will be at a disadvantage to their fourth. Smaller as it may be, it appears to be constructed of more advanced technology. We have little data on its shields, the elementals had a hard time targeting it."

"Countermeasures?"

Jarro inclined his head in thought. "Possibly, but a simpler explanation would be its narrow profile coupled with mobile attack patterns."

"Similar to our own," Nella said. "How do its weapons compare?"

"Inferior in power to the others, but with a much higher firing rate. It is possible that we are looking at a prototype craft…or an ally."

"That complicates things. How many elementals do we have left?"

"One hundred sixty four from the first wave," Jarro reported.

"Engage twenty clusters of five. The remainder will remain in singles to keep their smaller ship occupied. All ships will maintain mobile attack patterns."

"What of the others?"

"Patience, Jarro. We need a complete assessment of their capabilities before we commit the bulk of our forces."

"I agree, but have you considered the possibility that they might have summoned reinforcements from elsewhere?"

"That is always a possibility," Nella reprimanded him. "Regardless, we will proceed according to protocol. Once the elementals reconfigure have them execute a micro jump into attack position."

Jarro nodded and began imputing the necessary commands.

* * *

"This is weird," Sheppard said as the attackers retreated just as the battle began.

"I agree," Bra'tac said, rubbing his chin. "Be on guard. I do not believe they have given up yet."

"What are those things?" Ford asked.

"Whatever they are," Rodney answered, "the Asgard beam weapons on the 304s cut them to ribbons."

"You think that's why they pulled back?" Ford asked.

"Not that I'm a military strategist," Rodney said irreverently, "but yeah, I'd say that's a distinct possibility."

"You know, I think I liked it better when you were a galaxy away," Ford told him.

"Oh yeah, then why'd you come?"

"To see my Grandma and Grandpa," Ford told him.

"Really? You didn't strike me as the sentimental type."

Ford shook his head dismissively. "I was crazy for _not_ shooting you when I had an excuse."

"Enough!" Sheppard interrupted. "We've got bigger things to worry about."

"Indeed," Bra'tac echoed as he pointed at a specific point on the hologram. During the battle a number of vessels had appeared alongside the command ship outside the system…there were 26 of them, and they appeared to have the same dimensions as the original block that split up into the pieces that had attacked them."

"Oh, that's not good," Rodney said quietly.

"Aye," Carson echoed, "but you're forgetting the bio weapons already on the planet. Unless you get me…us, to some sort of medical facility, we're not going to be of any use up here."

"That will have to wait," Bra'tac said as the blocks disappeared from Venus orbit and suddenly were upon them again. The pilot of the Alket accelerated the ship to attack speed.

"Here we go again," Sheppard said, putting one hand on a bulkhead for support. The forward viewport swung around on the tail of what looked like several blocks stuck together. Four golden globs of plasma lept out from the Jaffa ship and impacted its rear shields just as an Asgard beam struck it from the other side.

The blocks' shields held…and their five beams targeted the _Kerensky_ simultaneously in response.

Likewise the Asgard shields on the 304 held, which began a brief slugging match between the two ships. Two more, nearly simultaneous beams from the _Kerensky_ succeeded in destroying the multi-craft, but the Russian ship was under attack from seven more of them plus several of the individual units.

Two quick blasts hit the Alket's shields as the Jaffa vessel swung around behind the _Kerensky_ and targeted one of the multi-crafts attacking the _Phoenix_. As they did, a dozen more individuals tracked toward the Alket, lighting up the Ancient shields and the space around them with their brief, yet elongated energy blasts.

"They have adapted their attack," Bra'tac commented as the pilot swung the ship to and fro, trying to shake off their pursuit. "That first engagement was merely a test of our abilities."

"If we can just keep from getting blown out of the sky," Sheppard said, grabbing Jennifer by the arm as she started to fall due to an extreme turn to port, "the 304s look like they can handle them."

Bra'tac inquired the Alket's battle computer for the status of the allied vessels and received holographic stats around the ships. A thin bar above each ship indicated their shield strength…all of them were below 50%."

Another of the multi-craft exploded under the _Phoenix_'s guns and Bra'tac did a quick assessment of the battlefield. There were 16 of the multi-craft left, 54 of the singles, and rapidly depleting shields on the Tau'ri ships. Even the Alket's shields had been diminished by 25%, and given the kill rate they were managing it was going to be a close call as to who was going to come out of this conflict as the victor.

Three of the multi-craft coordinated their attack on the _Sun Tzu_ and fired their enhanced beams at a single point on the 304s shields. The Asgard designed matrix absorbed most of the energy, but the beams lasted long enough to overload that particular square meter of the energy field and allowed the last wisp of their weapons to hit the hull.

A small explosion mushroomed out from the port side of the ship as the hole in the shields resealed itself almost instantaneously. Two crewmen, however, were in that particular section of the ship and died from decompression before emergency bulkheads snapped into place behind them, preserving the rest of the ship's internal atmosphere.

Bra'tac took note of the damage and the alarming fact that by combining their craft together they had increased the power of their shields _and weapons_ beyond the expected cumulative effect. He suspected it had to do with the internal blocks being retasked to 'generator mode' while the outer ones used the energy provided to enhance their shields and weapons.

If that were true, then any more combinations of blocks would result in even more firepower and tougher shields. In the pit of his stomach he got the feeling that whoever this enemy was, they were playing with the Tau'ri and had yet to show their true strength.

Another momentary shield breach occurred on the _Phoenix_ just before a swarm of yellow lights flowed past its hull and slammed into the enemy blocks…

"Yes!" Sheppard said, fist pumping the air as the drones passed right through the enemy shields and tore the blocks to shreds.

Bra'tac settled back into his seat, letting out a sigh of relief. The Tau'ri had activated the Ancient weapons platform in Antarctica…but how many of the pesqua did they have left?

Concerned, Bra'tac used his knowledge of Ancient systems and queried the outpost below for their current weapon count.

589 remained.

As the last of the enemy craft exploded Bra'tac's eyes lept to the ships sitting just outside the star system. None of them moved. Perhaps they were rethinking their strategy. That was good, for it might give them the time they needed.

"Hail the Tau'ri," Bra'tac ordered, standing up.

Colonel Ronson's image appeared again. "Yes?"

"I need to speak with stargate command immediately."

"May I ask why?"

"There are many more ships on the edge of the system. I believe this attack has been nothing more than a probe into your defenses."

"More ships?" Ronson asked, clearly worried. He rechecked with his crew. "Our sensors are clear."

"They are massed at the very edge of the system," Bra'tac said, relaying their sensor data to the _Phoenix_. "Time is short. I must use your stargate immediately if I am to rally reinforcements."

"Patching you through now," Ronson said after looking at the sensor data. A moment later General Landry's image appeared.

Bra'tac nodded in greeting. "I need to use your stargate to summon reinforcements, and time is short."

"That can be arranged," Landry said, also clearly concerned. "I hear from Colonel Ronson that you've also requested a sample of the bio weapon?"

"Yes, but that will have to wait. Your world is due for another attack, and I must leave at once if we are to return in time."

"Very well," Landry agreed.

"Dial Chulak immediately," Bra'tac told him. "We will be in your gateroom within sixty seconds."

Bra'tac severed communications then turned to his crew. "Aid the Tau'ri as you are able, but do not stand toe to toe with this enemy. Flee if you must, for you do neither them nor me any good dead. Hit and run. Become a nuisance. Survive to inflict more damage later."

The assembled Jaffa nodded. "Understood my Lord," the pilot said.

Bra'tac put his hand on his shoulder. "This is the Tau'ri's world. They may defend it to their deaths. You will not. Fight bravely, but more important, fight wisely."

He turned to the Atlantis crew. "Any of you that possess the Ancient gene will come with me. All others will travel to Atlantis via the stargate."

"Lorne has the gene," Sheppard said, "but he's still unconscious."

"Come," Bra'tac said, walking swiftly off the bridge. The others fell into step behind him.

When they got to where Novak and the unconscious crew were Bra'tac knelt over Lorne and placed his hand on his forehead.

"What the…?" he said, waking up with a start.

"Be still," Bra'tac said evenly. "Your world is under assault. We require your assistance."

"Okay," Lorne said, not sure what was going on.

Bra'tac stood up and moved behind a control console. "I will follow you shortly," he said, activating the Asgard beaming technology.

* * *

Sheppard and the others suddenly found themselves beneath the window of the SGC command center staring into the kawoosh of the activating wormhole. It settled into a stable event horizon and Bra'tac beamed down in front of it at the foot of the ramp.

"What are they doing here?" Landry's voice asked over the speakers.

"They are coming with me," Bra'tac said, waving them forward.

"Security!" Landry said quickly, with the assembled armed guards snapping to attention.

Bra'tac looked up at the control room angrily. "Your world is under attack. We have no time for games!"

"Colonel Sheppard is under arrest," Landry said evenly, "and the others aren't supposed to be here either."

"There is no time for this!" Bra'tac yelled. "Order your guards to stand down or I will take them by force," Bra'tac said, his forearm jewelry melting and covering him head to toe in armor. He slowly raised his forearm towards one of the nervous guards pointing a weapon at him…

"Stop," Landry yelled. "Security teams stand down."

Bra'tac's armor retracted and he waved Sheppard forward. "Go," he said, nudging him through the gate.

"I should stay," Carson said as the others went through.

"Me too," Jennifer added after pushing Rodney through and stepping back down the ramp.

"I require you as a gunner," he said to Carson, then turned to Jennifer. "And you will have better luck with the medical equipment in Atlantis once the Tau'ri have provided us with a sample of the weapon. Now come, time is short," he said, glancing back at Landry once, then gently pushed the two doctors through the gate.

* * *

They emerged through the opposite gate and met the others in the cold forest environment of Chulak.

"What are we doing here?" Sheppard said, shivering.

Bra'tac said nothing. Instead he immediately went for the DHD and dialed an eight chevron jump address, imputing the security code to the bewilderment of the others…especially Rodney.

As soon as the gate activated Bra'tac stepped through and the others hurried to join him. The group arrived in the gate center and Bra'tac took off at a run for the control tower, yelling back at Sheppard.

"Those who do not possess the gene will go through first. The rest of you stay here."

"Alright, that's Cadman, Keller, Simpson, Zelenka, and Novak," Sheppard said, organizing them. "Everyone else sit tight. I don't know exactly what Bra'tac has planned, but I'm willing to bet it's something good."

"Where's he going, and what is this place?" Rodney asked, looking at the multiple gates.

"Long story," Sheppard said as the red gate suddenly activated. "Keller, take Zelenka. Cadman, you've got Simpson."

"Jennifer, when you get there…" Carson began to say.

She nodded. "I know where to start," she said, dragging Zelenka's unconscious body into the event horizon.

"Colonel," Novak asked as Cadman dragged Zelenka through. "What in the world is going on?"

"I promise we'll explain everything later. You can talk to Dr. Weir in a moment."

"Alright," she said, hesitantly walking through the stargate.

"What the hell is going on?" Lorne asked, looking around the place.

Off to the side the green stargate activated. McKay glanced back and forth between the two. "Ok, that's impossible."

"Rookies," Sheppard said sarcastically as Bra'tac ran back from the control tower to join them. "Move!" he ordered.

"Let's go," Sheppard yelled, stepping through the gate.

* * *

On the other side he nearly lost his breath. Standing before them was a gigantic ship in a breathtakingly huge construction slip. "Is that…"

"The Columnar," Bra'tac said, attracting the attention of a nearby replicator. He had a brief conversation with it in Ancient then walked quickly toward a nearby ring platform.

"Is that the reinforcements?" McKay asked.

"Yes. I require your assistance as gunners," Bra'tac said, motioning for them to step inside the rings. All did so and the Alterra joined them after keying the activation sequence.

"I didn't think it was ready?" Sheppard asked after they were transported inside.

"The primary weapon and most of the armor has yet to be completed," Bra'tac said, hurrying towards the bridge. "The rest of the systems should be operational."

"Drones?" Sheppard asked.

Bra'tac shook his head. "There are no _pesqua_ aboard. Nor are there any auxiliary craft. Such things are added after final construction."

"What do we have to fight with then?"

"To my knowledge the plasma cannons and _lox_ generators are fully operational, as are the shields and hyperdrive. Fortunately, the potentia has already been installed, lest we be delayed further."

"Cool," Ford muttered.

Bra'tac opened the door to a 'transporter' big enough for three people. He, Sheppard, and McKay stepped inside. "Follow us," Bra'tac ordered, sealing the door. The three of them were transported to the terminal at the far end of the bridge, a long high ceilinged corridor that looked very drab. At the far end a solitary control chair sat.

"Ship?" Bra'tac called out into the emptiness as he walked toward the chair.

A hologram of an Ancient woman half materialized walking beside them. "Yes?" she asked.

"Prepare for emergency launch," Bra'tac ordered. "We must go into battle immediately."

It blinked. "Construction crews have already evacuated the slip. It will take 4.2 minutes to open the primary hatch…and I would remind you that not all weapons systems are currently operational."

"What's that?" McKay whispered to Sheppard.

"You've got me," he said.

"Plot course for the nearest ship gate," he told the hologram as he slipped into the control chair. It and nearly everything else on the bridge lit up brilliantly. Off on the far end Carson, Lorne, and Ford stepped out of transporter.

"Sit," Bra'tac said. Along the wall three smaller versions of the control chair rose up out of the floor, along with two more on the opposite side.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Sheppard said, sliding into the small seat and connecting with the ship. He pulled up as much information as he could, some of which appeared as a hologram in front of him, including the ship's name…_Nieruie_.

"Nieruie?" Sheppard said aloud.

"Yes," the hologram answered.

"Ah…what are you?"

"I am the ship's computer."

"What's with the name, Bra'tac?"

"It means 'exceptional strength,'" the Alterra answered.

"In Ancient?" Sheppard asked.

"Of course."

"Can she…it control the weapons?"

"I can," Nieruie answered.

"Why then do I need you?" Bra'tac said, sensing his question. "The computer is faster and more accurate than a person, but it lacks the wisdom in target choice. I cannot control all the weapons myself. Each of you will take as many as you can, the ship will utilize the rest for point defense."

"How many are there?" Ford asked.

"Ninety nine plasma cannons and four lox generators, which I will man."

"Lox?" Carson asked.

"Lightning," Bra'tac translated as there was a sudden shudder felt throughout the ship.

"What was that?" Lorne asked.

"The moon is opening," Sheppard said, getting a sensor feed through his chair.

"Indeed," Bra'tac said, still impressed by the sight of it. "This shipyard is encased within a hollow moon. I believe that is the sole reason why it has survived to this day."

"Ship…system diagnostic. Are we ready to launch?"

The hologram hesitated a few seconds. "All completed systems are operating at 100%."

Bra'tac closed his eyes in the control chair and the ship's engines hummed to life.

"Here we go," Carson said warily.

"Whoever is attacking Earth," Sheppard said eagerly, "is about to get a big surprise."

"How far away are we?" Lorne asked. In response a hologram appeared over his chair showing Avalona and the distance between it and Kestardra. "We're in another galaxy?"

"Looks like it," Sheppard said as the ship slowly lifted out of its berth.

"Well what kind of a bloody plan is this," Carson complained. "It'll take days, if not weeks, for us to get back to Earth."

"Bra'tac knows a shortcut," Sheppard said sarcastically. "Nieruie, can you give me a weapons simulation for practice?"

"Yes," it said as a targeting proficiency program activated through Sheppard's neural link. Some holographic elements also manifested themselves.

"Me too!" McKay said quickly.

"Me three," Lorne said, less enthusiastic. "Who are we fighting anyway?"

"Don't know," Sheppard said, fighting phantom enemies as he spoke. "They came out of nowhere and attacked Earth with some type of bio weapon, then followed it up with a bunch of legos."

"Legos?" McKay complained. "Seriously…"

"You have a better name, Rodney?"

"Well, now that you mention it…"

"Meaning what?" Lorne interrupted.

"They can fight individually," Sheppard explained, "or they can hook together to increase their strength…at least, that's how it looked."

"You are correct," Bra'tac interrupted. "They did indeed increase their power when connected. I fear their combined might if they number in the hundreds…"

"Ouch," Sheppard said, "I hadn't thought about that."

"That's one big door," Ford said, watching their exit in hologram. They were hovering over several dozen slips…all with partially constructed Columnars in the rib stage of fabrication, but far above them a large oval was peeling up into space. Small bits of debris and dust fell inward and sparkled as they passed through the atmospheric shield that kept the moon's interior from venting into space.

Bra'tac tipped the long ship up into a nearly vertical position and accelerated rapidly out of the facility. Once outside, Ford and Carson both stared back at a barren, char-colored sphere while the other crew members worked through their weapons simulations.

"What's this shortcut?" Carson asked, his jaw still slack from what he was seeing.

"You will see shortly," Bra'tac said as the Columnar launched into hyperspace.


	5. Chapter 5

Moments before the _Nieruie_ exited hyperspace Bra'tac knew things were bad. What limited sensor readings were possible from hyperspace showed only two ships in Earth orbit, and the former Jaffa Master realigned their exit point to get them as close as possible to them on reversion.

The massive Columnar slid back into realspace between the _Phoenix_ and Earth, just above the atmosphere. The _Kerensky_ shadowed the American ship, but there was no sign of the _Sun Tzu_…and there was a thin wisp of smoke rising from Antarctica.

"That's not good," Sheppard said quietly.

A transmission from the _Phoenix_ appeared in hologram across the forward wall of the bridge, as well as above each individual chair. Colonel Ronson's distraught face appeared.

"What has transpired?" Bra'tac asked, checking on the position of the enemy fleet. They were sitting right where they had been…minus one of their ships.

"A number of their smaller ships engaged us in battle again, this time as a diversion. As soon as the Antarctic outpost launched their drones another group of enemy ships pulled a hyperspace jump into the upper atmosphere and took it out. The drones in flight dropped dead before they hit their targets. We managed to destroy the diversionary force, but when the second group joined the battle we lost the _Sun Tzu_.

"What of the ship I left behind?" Bra'tac asked.

Ronson shook his head. "I don't know. We lost track of them."

The Alterra nodded. "The enemy has made no further move?"

"No…I can't understand it. By now they have to know they have more than enough firepower to take us out…at least they did. I hope that's no longer the case, judging by the looks of your ship. Please tell me I'm right?"

Bra'tac nodded. "Pull back and disengage. We will take it from here."

"Not to sound ungrateful," Ronson said, "but this is our world. We _will_ defend it."

"Your deaths will not serve your world. Only your continued life can. If the enemy persists the battle will grow beyond your capabilities. You will be more of a hindrance than an asset. Pull back and see to your repairs."

"I can't do that," Ronson argued. "I have my orders."

"You have new orders now," Bra'tac said stiffly. "Issued by the battlefield commander, which I have now become."

Ronson visibly stiffened. "Not to belabor the point, but where can we go? I doubt I could land the ship in one piece, and if we jumped into hyperspace there's no guarantee the enemy wouldn't follow us."

"You could bring them onboard," Ford offered. "The main bay looks big enough."

"A prudent suggestion," Bra'tac said with approval. "Do your ships still have maneuvering capability?"

"I believe so," Ronson answered.

"Then you will land inside our ship and begin your repairs. Both of your ships."

Ronson's eyes went wide. "Did you say inside your ship?"

"I am opening the primary bay now," Bra'tac said, stopping the Columnar near the _Phoenix_. "Get your ship close and the bay's tractor beams will guide you the rest of the way."

"I'm not sure I like this," Ronson said, wavering.

"If you cannot land, and cannot flee, you have no other alternative."

"Very well," Ronson said reluctantly. "I'll instruct the _Kerensky_ to follow us…assuming both ships will fit inside."

Bra'tac did a third check of the sizes. "They will."

Ronson nodded. "Thank you. We'll try and expedite repairs as best we can."

The _Phoenix_ turned on maneuvering thrusters and edged around the back of the Columnar where a thin layer of replicator armor was peeling back from the center section of the ship revealing a pair of massive hangar bay doors. Once the armor blocks had reformed elsewhere the bay opened slowly revealing a hangar deeper than it was wide.

The _Phoenix_ closed to within a couple kilometers then the ship was gripped by a translucent blue beam…and she lost all maneuvering control.

"Shut down all engines," Ronson ordered as they were smoothly pulled forward into the bay.

"My god," he whispered as the ceiling whipped across the forward viewport and subdued yellow lighting cast a soothing glow across the bridge. The _Phoenix_ was dragged forward to nearly the end of the bay where it stopped and very slowly descended to the floor.

"Landing protocols," he ordered quickly. "Let's not make a mess on their deck."

The _Phoenix_'s heavy landing gear emerged from the underside of the ship and transferred the weight of the 304 to the deck until the tractor beams finally released them with a gentle thud.

"Aft cameras," Ronson said, standing up.

Behind them the _Kerensky_ was just entering the tractor beams, but it quickly obscured most of the visible stars and loomed ominously larger as the seconds passed by. For a moment the Colonel feared a collision, but just a few dozen meters shy of his ship the _Kerensky_ stopped its forward momentum and, like the _Phoenix_, began to very slowly drift downwards.

Ronson also noted that behind them the hangar bay doors were resealing. Before the _Kerensky_ had even touched down the visible stars were gone and the only exterior light came from row upon row of the bay's yellow illumination bars, each probably the width of the 302.

"Alright people, let's get to work. The faster we repair this damage the sooner we can get back in this fight!"

* * *

"Now that's just cool," Sheppard said, monitoring the boarding ships.

"You can say that again," Ford echoed.

"What are they doing?" Lorne asked, looking at a hologram of the enemy ships as they broke apart.

"They are reconfiguring," Bra'tac said, beginning to understand their tactics. "They estimate it will take a larger configuration to engage this ship…they are preparing to attack."

"Why don't we hit them first?" McKay asked. "If this ship really is as bad ass as you say…"

"If they attack us with a smaller force, it is to our advantage to wipe it out, thus diminishing their available numbers to throw at us once they realize how significant a threat we are."

"Patience is the way of the Jedi," Sheppard explained sarcastically.

"As you well know…" McKay reminded him, "I'm not the most patient of souls. Right now I'm ready to sling some lead!"

"Darth McKay it is," Ford said jokingly.

"Heavens no," Carson chimed in.

"Yeah, well just be glad I no longer have the power to Force choke you to death," McKay snarled at Ford.

Aiden laughed. "When was that?"

"Humans…" Bra'tac growled under his breath as the tactical hologram shifted. The moving blocks had stopped reconfiguring, settling on a flat, angular design. "Stand ready!"

The Atlantis crew immediately stopped their bickering and snapped to attention as Bra'tac powered up the ship's weapons. In each gunner's station all weapon systems were 'visible' to the neural interface, giving them the choice of which weapon/weapons to control.

A moment after Bra'tac gave them the word, 99 plasma cannons shifted from mental black dots to green, active batteries alongside the other blacked out weapons systems. Sheppard reached out and 'grabbed' a dozen along the port side of the ship. That was the most he'd been proficient at controlling in the simulations and now wasn't the time to overestimate his abilities.

Other green dots turned red as his compatriots selected cannons to control. Through his connection, Sheppard felt McKay pick up 50 or more of them.

"Rodney, you get five, no more."

"What! Why?" he demanded.

"You can't control fifty," Sheppard said rudely. "I'm maxed out at twelve, now stop playing around."

"Alright," McKay grumbled, releasing all but five.

"Ship," Bra'tac said, "retain twenty batteries for point defense."

The holographic Alterran nodded and twenty green dots spaced evenly around the hull turned red.

"What about the rest?" Carson asked.

"I will use them as I am able," Bra'tac said as the enemy ships disappeared from sensors. "But my primary focus will be on the lox generators."

Outside the ship seventeen clusters appeared from their microjump. The angular ships, vaguely resembling the form of a Wraith mothership, thrusted around on an intercept course with the _Nieruie_ as Bra'tac commanded the ship to open its weapon pods and deploy the lox pillars.

A half segment of the cylinder-like ship bisected along the upper aft hull and split laterally revealing an empty pesqua launcher beneath as the two pods drifted away from the hull. Halfway through their deployment two more pods split in the lower fore section of the hull, revealing a second empty pesqua launcher and the flat sides of the pods.

From the flat side of all four pods a small circular column rose 'up' from the center and deployed its flaps spreading out like a flower petal. The front pods had their lox generators covering the forward and dorsal arcs, while the back pods with their generators pointing 'down' covered the ventral and aft arcs.

Mental counters appeared over Bra'tac's chair beginning at 32 seconds…the time it would take for the generators to charge and recharge. The plasma cannons had a much faster recharge rate, though they didn't wield as much destructive force.

Bra'tac grabbed twenty seven of the unused plasma cannons and fired as many that were in range at the approaching ships, which in turn fired linked combos of short bursts from all available weapon points on their blocks.

Inside the Columnar the impacts were not felt, but the computer displays made up for the lack of tactile sensation as the ship's computer generated a huge central hologram depicting the ship and all weapon impacts. As expected, the 40-some cluster ships couldn't penetrate the Alterran ship's shields, but it wasn't from lack of trying. Their onslaught of weapon's fire never ceased, but for each amount of shield energy drained, the emitters pulled equal amounts of energy from the ZPM to replace it.

In this way, the shields would never be downed, so long as the ZPM still had energy…unless the enemy could pinpoint stress a particular spot faster than the reserve energy could be distributed to the matrix. However, right now that wasn't the case…which meant that the battle quickly became little more than target practice for the crew.

All across the Columnar the plasma cannons fired gulps of bluish/green energy at two second intervals. Many missed the quickly moving cluster ships, but still many more impacted their combined shields, draining them of energy faster than their small power generators could replenish it.

Bra'tac fired off the most accurate shots as he waited for the lox generators to come online, utilizing the computer's targeting skills while he merely pointed them in the right direction. The others were less effective, trying to manually target the weapons, which resulted mostly in misses, save for the ships that came extremely close on strafing runs.

Those ships also drew the attention of the point defense system under command of the ship's computer. From the 20 batteries it controlled a nearly constant stutter stream of plasma fired into the quickly moving strafers as they passed by.

One such ship suffered massive damage from the point defenses after being tagged by both Bra'tac's and Sheppard's port batteries, lowering its shields enough for the computer to rack up the kill…or nearly so. The undamaged blocks disconnected from the dead ones and flew apart, where they then either began to assault the ship individually or pull off to reform with others into new cluster ships.

Sheppard frowned as he saw the point defense batteries firing quickly…with his twelve suffering through a two second recharge penalty. He wondered why his couldn't fire quicker, then all of a sudden his batteries changed aspects and the recharge lag dropped to one second…with the plasma bolts being weakened in compensation.

"I get it," he whispered to himself, mentally commanding all but two of his batteries to chop the recharge down to one third of a second…with the other two moving up to their maximum of four seconds.

He used his 'pulsers,' as he thought of them, to stitch the quicker ships while he used the 'mega guns' to pound the slower moving foursome lurking in front of the ship.

All of a sudden two of those four detonated in massive fireballs, with flicks of orange electricity arcing to their neighbors and being caught on their shields.

"Whooohoo," Ford yelled out. "Give it to 'em Bra'tac."

The Alterra had to smile at that, though the others couldn't see. The Columnar's firepower was indeed impressive, and the enemy was posing no match for them…yet he was still concerned. The other enemy ships remained still, content to watch the battle while they blasted their ships apart. Something else was afoot…he was sure of it.

* * *

"That is an example of why we follow protocol," Neela said unemotionally. "Had we rushed into battle, this new development could have severely crippled our fleet before we had a chance to account for it."

"I concede the point," Jarro said, studying the data they were gathering. "This new ship is far superior to our current technology. I have no doubt it is an ally of Earth, summoned to their defense."

"I concur. We must ascertain their true strength, then report back what we have learned. That is now our primary mission."

Jarro turned to his companion. "Securing this world is no longer an objective?"

"No," Neela said calmly as she watched the holograph of the battle. "Whoever this new race is, they have not made themselves known to those we have encountered. They are an unknown variable. If unchecked, the Aschen Confederation could be at risk. I will not allow that."

"Neither will I," Jarro agreed completely. "Shall we escalate the battle?"

Neela glanced at his console. "Do you have enough data to configure the remaining elementals?"

"Not for victory," he cautioned, "but enough to insure they last long enough to gather sufficient data."

"Send them all, save for five individuals…in case their smaller ship returns to harass us again."

"Reconfiguring now," he said, watching the remaining cubes disintegrate into a maelstrom of tiny pieces. Slowly they began to coalesce into one gigantic ship.

* * *

Over the ice of Antarctica a helicopter from McMurdo base skirted over a small ridgeline then dropped to the ground and settled its landing struts into the snow pack. Half a dozen people in hazmat suits climbed off the chopper as two more could be heard coming in the distance. The six over dressed scientists waddled their way across the gap to the downed bio weapon lying on the ice.

They could clearly see the central section had been depleted of its contents, sprayed throughout the atmosphere during its corkscrew descent no doubt, but there should still have been trace amounts of the weapon for them to sample…

One of the scientists slid his gloved hand over the clear, empty container looking for an access panel, yet found none. They continued to look for several minutes before calling it quits and signaling for the cargo carrier.

A frame-like helicopter moved into position over top the car-sized device and lowered straps from its midsection. The scientists secured them in a weave-like pattern around the container, fastening more than two dozen interlocks. When they finished they retreated to their chopper as the entire assembly was lifted off the ice and up into the open underbelly of the cargo chopper. Together, they returned to McMurdo base where a temporary facility was being constructed to analyze the device and get a sample of its weapon for the medical teams to start picking apart and hopefully device some type of antidote.

That said, no one knew yet what the contagion was supposed to…

* * *

"That's one big ship," McKay commented as they watched the sensors readings from the edge of the system.

"You can say that again," Lorne echoed.

"We _are_ going to be able to handle that," Sheppard asked, "right?"

"Let us hope so," Bra'tac answered, reviewing the limited data they had gathered on the 'blocks.' He was somewhat familiar with the concept, both from his experience fighting against the replicators and the technology downloads Stevenson had given to him. As impressive as the modular design was, it should have its limitations.

If the technology was functioning as Bra'tac believed, then interior blocks were being utilized as power generators to enhance the abilities of the outer blocks…yet that power had to travel through the conduits of the individual blocks, and there was always a limit to how much power a conduit could transmit.

The Columnar had massive conduits, designed to channel the power from a potentia, but even they had limits. These enemy blocks were much smaller, and as such their conduits, not to mention their weapons and shield emitters, had to have a limit as to how much power they could use at any one time. Given the size of the attack craft being constructed Bra'tac wondered if it wasn't too big…or if he had underestimated their technology.

He didn't have to wait long to find out. As soon as the craft was assembled, the knife-like design jumped into attack position. Bra'tac awaited the first concerted blast, which came from hundreds of individual points across the 'edge' of the blade. All of them intersected on a small patch of shield, trying to penetrate it without taking down the entire matrix.

As the rest of the crew fired their plasma cannons at will, Bra'tac monitored the shield controls closely. That first attack had point stressed the shield down to 20%, then the adjacent shield matrix had flooded energy into the gap within a second after the weapons' fire had ceased, closing the near breach. Had their weapons been slightly more powerful, or their beams longer in duration, they would have succeeded in penetrating the Columnar's shields and impacting the extremely thin layer of armor covering the ship.

Bra'tac hoped they had hit them with their best shot, for if it was, they now owned them. The massive cluster ship fired again with similar results, but it was just shy of being able to penetrate the shield.

Two orange lightning bolts lept out and struck the ship…but they didn't penetrate the shields. Bra'tac's sensors indicated that they had weakened them by 27%, with a recharge rate manifesting itself at about a percent per second.

27% damage, 32 seconds of recharge…they were going to have to do better than that.

As the plasma cannons began to rack up an addition percent or two of depleted shields Bra'tac swung the Columnar around, exposing the aft turrets to the enemy. Two more lox bolts lept out at the cluster ship and impacted its shields, but they still held as more combined attacks tried to poke holes in the _Nieruie_'s defenses.

The ship swung around again, so that when the forward lox generators recharged the enemy ship would be within their sights.

Enemy shield strength was now down 46%, with their recharge rate eating heavily into the damage the Alterran ship was dishing out, but if they maintained their rate of fire they would eventually win the war of attrition and breach their shields.

Another round of lox bolts from both fore and aft turrets nearly depleted the enemy shields, but it took a third shot from the forward turrets to finally do the job. Dozens of blocks disintegrated in a pair of massive explosions, throwing debris and intact blocks in all directions…but the continued plasma cannon fire suddenly found itself impacting against renewed shields.

Bra'tac frowned. These new shields were within the boundaries of the ship's former hull…and he suddenly understood. The cluster ship was so big that some of the central blocks couldn't extend their shields to the outer perimeter. A weakness on their part, but it also meant that once they had managed in destroying part of the ship, those central shield generators now had a chance to manifest themselves…and since they hadn't yet been drained of power, they now deployed at 100% capacity.

"Be patient," Bra'tac told his gunners. "We maintain the advantage, but this enemy is resilient. We have to wear it down. Maintain you rate of fire and it will fall."

"We're on it," Sheppard said, firing the most massive blasts his weapons were capable of. The enemy ship was essentially sitting still and as such, easy to target. Sheppard even dared to pull an addition two cannons under his control and was successful in keeping his group of 14 under linked fire, enough so that he thought about taking a few more on, but those that weren't being used didn't have firing arcs on the one massive ship, so there was little more that he could do besides hold in on the mental trigger and rack up as many block kills as he could.

Then suddenly he saw several small blocks flash by on strafing runs…pieces of the ship, no doubt, that had been flung off during the explosions. For a moment he considered retasking his current batteries to track them, but as one exploded into a ball of debris from the point defense fire coming from the ship's computer he thought better of it and maintained as much fire as he could against the main target.

After a while the Columnar was able to breach the second shield and destroy dozens of more blocks…but a third shield materialized where those had been and the process had to be repeated again and again…but after the fourth time the new shields being deployed started to have less and less power at their disposal, hastening their downfall.

Still, it was going to take at least another half hour before the ship would finally be destroyed.

* * *

Outside the control ship lights flashed against the shields as the Alket made a surprise strafing run, dropping out of cloak directly in front of the ship. The five guardian blocks pursued it immediately, as programmed, but the command ship's guns were slow to react and couldn't track the Jaffa ship as it made a quick pass.

"Persistent," Jarro noted as the ship once against disappeared from sensors, "but fruitless."

Neela nodded her agreement as she watched the main battle hologram. "I think we've gathered enough data. It's time to go."

Jarro looked at her. "It will be some time before the elementals are eliminated."

"They are making no headway…and as soon as they are destroyed we will be their next target. Plot a hyperspace jump away from Confederation territory. We will take an indirect route back, lest they follow us."

"Jump plotted," Jarro said, quickly working the controls of his console. He also dispatched the five guardian elementals to join the main battle, hopeless as it was.

"Commence," Nella ordered, turning away and walking off the bridge.

Jarro activated the hyperdrive and the command ship silently slipped into the other dimension. He correlated the data they had gathered into six electronic files, one for each ship plus the ground installation. He routed them into primary computer storage that would automatically be uploaded into the Aschen computer network upon their return home.

After filing a brief report on the encounter and the dispersal sites of the bio weapon, Jarro too left the bridge and returned to his personal quarters. It would be another ten hours before the next leg of their hyperspace journey, and until then neither of them would be needed on the bridge.

* * *

All in all, the battle lasted 43 minutes and would have gone on longer if the individual blocks hadn't continued to attack the ship directly and instead spread out across the system or gone down to the planet's surface. Apparently that hadn't been the point of the battle, or so Bra'tac deduced afterwards. The ship at the edge of the system had disappeared from sensors, and from the Alterra's point of view the battle for Avalon had concluded, though there were no guarantees of if or when the enemy might return.

He figured that wasn't likely to happen any time soon. The arrival of the Columnar had probably spooked them, and while they might return some day it would have to be in far greater numbers. With that knowledge in mind, Bra'tac had released the 304s and left Avalon within the day, returning through the ship gates to Atlantis…with a sample of the bio weapon.

* * *

"Dear god," Carson said as he got his first preliminary look at the composition of the disease.

"I know," Jennifer said, looking at the same data. "This isn't a virus, nor is it a bacteria or any other form of microscopic organism I know of, yet it has elements of both."

"It can replicate independent of the host body," Carson continued, "yet it can affect it on a genetic level akin to a virus…oh, this can't be right."

"What?" Jennifer asked.

"Here," he said, pointing at one section of the computer analysis.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Eight day termination sequence?"

"Aye, that's what I read it as. This little bugger is going to expand at an exponential rate then deactivate after eight days."

"Why?" Jennifer asked. "It can't possibly spread over the entire planet in eight days."

"You're missing the point, Love. It's not supposed to. It kills anything and everything biological in sight, then deactivates after a preprogrammed period of time, leaving the area uncontaminated for the enemy to then occupy."

Jennifer blanched. "You mean they meant to take over Earth?"

Carson nodded. "Looks that way. And if all the bio weapons had hit their targets, there'd be bloody little left on the planet to trouble them…plant or animal."

"Oh my god," she said, covering her cheeks with her hands. "What are we going to do? We've only got six more days before it stops itself, which means we need a cure _now_."

"I know. This beast is probably ravaging the infected areas as we speak. We need to work fast."

"I don't even know where to begin," Jennifer complained. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Neither have I, but I know someone who can help with that," Carson said, walking over to the intercom. "Dr. Weir?"

"I'm here Carson," her voice answered. "Any progress?"

"Not yet. Is Bra'tac still here?"

"He went back to his ship, but it hasn't left orbit. I think he intends to stay here until you find a cure or until Stevenson comes back."

"Well get him down here, we need his help."

"Ok," Weir said cautiously, "but I wasn't aware he was a doctor."

"I don't think he is either, but he has access to Atlantis that we don't have."

"What are you getting at, Carson."

"I need him to authorize a medical knowledge download, like you said Stevenson gave to you."

Weir hesitated. "I'll ask."

"Hurry," Carson insisted. "If we don't have a cure within a few days it's not going to matter."

* * *

"Very well," Bra'tac said as Carson explained the situation. "But it will only be a temporary transfer. Your mind is too primitive for a full, permanent download."

"I understand," Carson said bravely.

Bra'tac nodded, then accessed the neural interface himself. A moment later he withdrew. "Look inside."

Carson rubbed his hands together. "Ok, here goes," he said, stepping up to the device. He pressed his forehead against the outer rim and a multitude of lights flooded into his eyes…and mind.

He reflexively closed his eyes, he couldn't help it, but the light didn't diminish. It was inside his head. Carson made sure not to move, and kept his head securely where it was…then it was over as quickly as it began.

"Nothing happened," he said after stepping back from the device. "Oh, boy…" he said, fainting.

"Carson," Jennifer said, half-catching him as he fell.

"That is to be expected," Bra'tac told her. "It will take a few minutes for his mind to process the knowledge."

"Why couldn't you have done this?" she asked, clearly concerned for Beckett.

"I could have," Bra'tac admitted. "But I do not have the aptitude for such things. There is more to wisdom than knowledge alone."

"Still," Jennifer complained as Carson blinked wearily.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to sit up…and quickly falling back down.

"Easy there," she said, putting her hand behind his head so it wouldn't hit the floor. "Take your time."

"On all that's holy…"he muttered to himself, "Why didn't I see it before?"

"See what, Carson?"

"This plague isn't at all hard to beat," he said, trying to sit up again. "We only need to deliver a chronologic recalibrator via a pseudovirus and it'll stop the buggar cold."

"What are you talking about?" Jennifer asked.

"No time…no time," he said, pulling himself to his feet. "Bra'tac…does your ship have an aerosol delivery system?"

Bra'tac nodded slowly. "I believe that was one of the secondary systems Stevenson added to the design."

"Then we might have a chance at this," Carson said, rubbing his forehead. "Get me back to the lab," he told Jennifer.

"Ok," she said, taking him by the arm.

"If you can provide the design, the ship can replicate the rest of the cure en mass," Bra'tac told him.

"Good," Carson said, getting his feet back under him. "Be ready to launch within the hour."

Bra'tac smiled and nodded, but said nothing more as he walked out of the room.

"Let's go," Carson said, almost dragging Jennifer forward.

"Slow down a bit," she argued. "You need to let yourself adjust."

"If I do that more people die, now help me," he said, trying to walk faster.

* * *

Later that day the _Nieruie_ returned to Earth, but instead of making orbit it plunged into the atmosphere over South America. Bra'tac contacted the SGC and got an updated map of the infection area…though it was clear from above just where the plague was.

Large sections of the Amazon now lay brown and dead, visible even from orbit. Bra'tac leveled out the ship a couple of miles above the surface and began dispersing the counter agent that would deactivate the disease on contact. He flew a large ring around the infected area, hoping to stem the spread of the ever increasing contagion.

That said, the SGC had already given him a number of other spots around the planet that the plague had been transmitted to. He would pull a flyby of those as soon as he covered the majority of the two major areas.

Antarctica and Greenland would keep, given their lack of vegetation and inhabitation, but it was the infestation in central and South American that required the most immediate attention. He used up nearly 40% of his reserves on South America alone before flying northwest into Mexico. There he dispersed some 36% as the ship continued to produce more cure as they continued, grabbing biomass from the planet for conversion on their way thanks to the Asgard beams that Bra'tac had insisted on including in the design.

A few hours later the ring around the Mexican infection area was complete. Bra'tac then spread as much cure to the interior areas of both circles as he could before traveling to the minor infestations around the planet. He stayed on Earth, spreading the cure until the 8 day cycle on the bio weapon ran out, deactivating all remaining infections that Bra'tac had been unable to find and counteract.

With nothing left to do, the Columnar left orbit after snagging a few pieces of the enemy ships for study, leaving planetary defense in the hands of the remaining two 304s. The Alket had since been ordered back to Dakara and the Atlantis crew had all been safely delivered into Weir's care. He alone piloted the _Nieruie_, and set course to the nearest ship gate.

The prototype had proved itself well in battle, despite having only two of its four weapons systems operational. Now it was time to complete its construction, where it would gain its real 'teeth.'

Bra'tac returned the ship to Kestardra then returned to Dakara through the stargate, picking up where he had left off. Though they weren't the equal of the Columnar, his H'tel were the next strongest ships in the galaxy…and their completion and testing were his next tasks.

* * *

A week later on Earth, the news accounts of the killer plague and the 'miraculous' object seen flying over hundreds of cities and supposedly putting an end to the disease were the subject of world-wide debate. Many rejected the claims, while others were immensely grateful to still be alive. The pictures coming out of central and South America were undeniable…and many people floated their own version of what had 'actually' happened.

The belief in extra-terrestrials increased dramatically, but was eventually downplayed by a link to an ancient prophecy…thanks to some intergovernmental pushing. Had the Aschen attack not occurred at a convenient time, it was theorized among the I.O.A. upper echelon, there may have been no choice but to reveal the existence of the stargate in order to avoid an even larger panic over the undeniable 'alien visitation' that so many people had witnessed.

But that wasn't to be the case. Forever after, there would be unanswered questions and an increased interest in space travel and exploration…but the bulk of the populous would eventually be taken in by the Ancient prophecy that happened to coincide with the current year…

2012


End file.
